Running-board-supporting bracket or saddle for the roofs of box cars



Sept. 11, 1923. WWW

w. E. WILLIAMS RUNNING BOARD SUPPORTING BRACKET OR SADDLE FOR THE ROOFS OF BOX CARS Filed July 28. 1921 Fig.1.

Patented Sept. 11, 1923..

UN TATES "1,467,743 r l "rarer clerics.

WILLIAM ERASTUS WILLIAMS, 0F WILMETTE, ILLINOIS.

RUNNING-BOARD-SUPPORTING BRACKET OR SADDLE FOR THE RO'OFS 0F BOX CARS.

Application filed. July 28,.

T 0 all whom it may concern.

Be it known that 1, WILLIAM ERASTUS VILLIAMS, a'citizen of the United States, and a resident of 'Wilmette, county of Cook, and State of Illinois, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Running-Board- Supportin Brackets or Saddles for the Roofs of ox Cars, of which the following is a specification.

The object of 'my invention is to provide a suitable fastening for securing the running board to the metal roof of a box car.

Reference will be had to the accompanying drawing in which Figure 1 is a transverse sectional elevation through a corrugated metal car roof showing my running board fastening applied thereto.

Figure 2 is'a transverse sectional view through the car roof and running board, showing my fastening in elevation a wood block shown in other figures being omitted.

Figure 3 is a plan view of a modified form of the fastening showing the runningboards in dotted .lines.

Figure 4L is a transverse view of the shown in Figure 3.

In the drawing 1 indicates the ordinary running boards made of wood that are used for a footway on the top of box cars and 2 indicates a corrugated all steel roof. In Figures 1 and 3 the bracket 4 is secured to the summits of the roof sheet corrugations where the margins 3 of the sheets overlap, but 1 may, as desired fasten the brackets at any summit of the corrugations.

I prefer to make the bracket or saddl 4 out of pressed metal which has-a seat 5 adapted to fit the curve of the summits of the corrugations of the roof sheet 2 andis fixed to the roof by the rivets 6. In Figure 1 I show a piece of roofing felt 7 interposed between the roof sheet 2 and the seat 5 of the bracket 1, but in Figure 4 no roof felt is shown while the base of the bracket 5 is riveted directly to the summits of the corrugations.

The bracket 4: in Figures 1 and 2 is provided with flanges 8 upon which the running boards 1 are supported and fastened by a series of bolts 9.

In Figures 3 and i the side walls of the bracket are provided with projections 10 which when the bracket is made, stand upright parallel with the walls a of the bracket. A wooden block 11 is then inserted in the parts 1921. seria1No.488,138.

embrace of the walls 4 of the bracket and then the projections 10 are hammered over engaging the wooden block and securely holding it as a part of the bracket itself. llhe running boards '1 are then secured by screws 12 into the wooden block 11, the feature being that screws screwed into wood are less likely to become loose than are nuts screwed upon bolts. These constructions are adaptable to ,meet the various wishes of the purchasers of the cars.

The purpose of the roofing felt 7 is to furnish a. seating cushion for the bracket on to the roof and also to guard against accidental leaks that might develop from faulty driving of the rivets 6. In the case of the construction shown in Figures 3 and 4 the wooden block -11 prevents any leak around the rivets 6.

As I have before stated, the brackets may be riveted on to any summit of any desirable corrugation 0f the roof sheet. In roofs of this type water always immediately runs to the valleys of the corrugations and thus is discharged from the side of the car, and little or no flood water of any kind occurs at the summits of the corrugations, so that even though there might be accidental faulty riveting done on driving the rivets 6, the amount of water that might flow through round the rivets 6 would be negligible and never appear on the cargo underneath, regardless of what the cargo might be.

By fastening the brackets or saddles 4- on to the summits of the corrugations wherein the lap of the roof sheets takes place, the riveting of the parts together serves to not only secure the bracket or saddles to the roof but also to bind the two sheets together with the same rivets, and this riveting is all that is required with a roof of this type, so that the cost of riveting the brackets on to the roof sheet is not an extra cost as it connects the roof sheets together simultaneously and makes another riveting unnecessary as regards joining the successive roof sheets together.

What I claim is 1. The combination with corrugated metal. car roof sheets marginally overlapping along the longitudinal medial line of the roof, of metal brackets fitting the upper surface ofthe overlapping portions, :wood blocks rigidly held in and flush, above,

with said brackets, rivets uniting the overlapping portions and fixing the brackets thereto, and screws entering said blocks and securing foot boards thereto.

5 2. In a device of the class described, a running board supported entirely by the roof sheet itself, a. saddle mounted on the roof sheet and interposed between it and the running boards and made of a channel 10 having a Wood filler braced between the flanges of the channel and held therein by projections of the saddle embracing the Wooden filler. Signed at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, this 11th day of J uly, 15 1921.

WILLIAM ERASTUS WILLIAMS. Witnesses:

F. M. ZOBEL, B. J. BERNHARD. 

